


Goner

by Adi (Littlelionman15)



Series: Thunder [4]
Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. References, Agents of SHIELD, Other, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pre-Infinity War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 01:34:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14660589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littlelionman15/pseuds/Adi
Summary: The stormy finale of the "Thunder" series leads Fox (original character, son of Tony Stark) and the team into new troubles, new fights and new dangers. While Fox battles with life and death, the team divides into two sides - Daisy's and Tony's. A long awaited character's return at the end, too!





	Goner

**Author's Note:**

> Aghhhhhhh can you believe it's over? My first official series! God, I feel like a proud parent walking their kid to their first day of school. I'm so excited. Love you guys and enjoy the read!   
> \- Addy

He opened his tired eyes once again. They were red, the capillaries in the corners snapped, like a thousand little explosions had blown them up. His eyebags had taken up a darker, more olive-green shade now – the inital purple color was nowhere to be seen. His skin paler than a cloud, cut and bruised, looked sick under the lights of the lamp above his bed. Everything hurt. His insides felt as if something was tearing them apart, twisting them and ripping the flesh off of his bones. Fitz and Tony prophecized that the device implanted into his spine could still spread – higher up his spine, severing every nerve in his spinal cord. That wouldn't just mean that his legs would be gone – his entire life would. Never could he again fight alongside Steve and Daisy – damn it, he couldn't pick a spoon up. But that was still just a posbility – not destiny – and looking back at the number of times Fox Cooper had already challenged destiny, he was dangerously optimistic.   
„Hey there.“ a familiar voice said. Looking at the direction it came from, his teary eyes caught the image of Daisy Johnson cozying up in the chair next to his bed. Her eyes were a bit swollen as well, but Fox didn't want to comment anything about it. She was smiling, reaching for his hand but suddenly stopped – she was afraid to hurt him. Jemma had previously said that the chemical compounds released from the Hydra device were interacting with his organs, and his skin being the biggest one... She was being careful.  
„Hey, Johnson.“ his voice was weak. He tried to pull the edges of his lips into a smile, but it was too hard right now. He'll do it all the time once they cure him. He will.  
„I was going to ask you how you are, but that's kinda not our thing, right?“ she smiled proudly. „We don't go down that easily.“ She reminded him.  
 „We fight back. That's our thing.“  
She reached for his hand, and even though he flinched at first, he embraced it. It was nice to feel the warmth of another one's skin again. It felt normal. „It is, isn't it?“ he asked with a smile – it hurt, but this was for Daisy. Nothing was ever hard for her.   
„Listen. Fitz, Simmons and Tony are synthesizing the terrigen. They'll succseed.  I just need you to hold on until then. You'll hold on, right?“  
He barely heard a thing she said. She said something between the lines of terrigen, succseed, hold on. That was more than enough for him. Hurtingly, he nodded.   
„Daisy?“ his voice was shaking all of a sudden. „My – my hand“ he panicked.   
„I can't move it. I can't move my hand.“  
Her eyes widen in fear. She knew it immediately – it was the device. It had spread even further. „I'll go get Simmons.“

It wasn't even ten seconds later when she had found Jemma Simmons walking towards the patient's room, quickly wrapping her shoulder-length hair into a ponytail. She ran even faster than Daisy – she knew what was happening. And she was right.   
Fox could've sworn that he saw her cursing silently, whispering it under her breath. She shut her eyes and pulled back, pinching the bridge of her nose. After a few seconds, she took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. Once the light shined on the brown jewels in her eyes, it showed the tears and reddish corners very visibly. Without even saying a word, both Daisy and Fox already knew: it happened. „The device...“ Jemma began, choking on tears, „has spread. It has now reached the upper region of your spine, severing and weakening most of the nerves that enable you to move or have control over any part of your body, Fox.“ She took a deep breath, pushing her heart rate to grow steadier and calmer. „We're talking about quadriplegia...“  
The rest of the sentence didn't arrive to Daisy's ears. She broke down and started crying at the side of his bed. God, there were so many reasons she was mad at the world right now... First it took both her and Fox away from their parents, placing them in an orphanage. Then it separated them. Then their paths crossed again. He was a hero now. The weak little boy she had known has grown into a strong, confident warrior, and the proud and dorky smile on his face was never bigger and brighter. He had found his home in this cruel world, his shelter; his family. Then came Hydra. They took his health, his legs at first and now even his arms...   
The weak little boy she had known has now been laying in a hospital bed, unable to move on his own. He'll never take a step again. He'll never have a chance to hold his kid's hands while they take their first steps one day and play with them. He'll never smile again. It broke her, crushed her heart. Why him? Out of all people, why did it have to be him, who has suffered a lot already?   
Something inside him fell apart, snapped, broke – ceased to exist. It was gone. All he ever fought for, all that had been leading up to this moment, was for nothing... And he wasn't even mad. Not at the world, not at Hydra – just at fate. Why did it have to screw him over so badly? What did he do to deserve this? He opened his eyes once again. Everything seemed so dark now; as if there was no point to anything. Daisy was crying at his side and Jemma had leaned on the wall, tears streaming down her cheeks. Daisy's cry tore his heart apart. Instinctively, he wanted to wipe the tears off of her face – a habit from the orphanage – and tell her he'd be fine, but he couldn't move his arm. He couldn't move anything. He tried, focusing on his fingers to move them just for a milimeter – but nothing happened. That was the moment he realized what was truly going on. This is how things will go from now on. He's a prisoner of his own body, and it was a prison that will last all until his last breath. He tried moving it again, he tried so hard that he even let out a little cry, but nothing happened.   
Something inside him just collapsed, and once again, he fell asleep.

They say that you see a light when you reach the end. You feel warmth and safety, comfort and pure happiness. They say it's beautiful. It was.   
Grant was there. The same Grant Ward who trained with him after he came to SHIELD.   
The same Grant Ward who was brainwashed and whom fought just hours before he himself had been captured by Hydra. There were no bruises on his face, and his eyes were bright and full of life. A faint smirk lightened up his face and he spread his arms; he was welcoming him. Nat was also there. A wide smile lifted the edges of her lips, two little dimples appearing. She seemed so relaxed. The bruises on her face were gone, just like the wound on her stomach. There was no blood anymore and the scared and confused look in her olive-green eyes had been gone. She was the same old Natasha who had welcomed him to the Avengers when he first arrived that day under Fury's wing. She was the one who trained him how to fight and how to be a spy. She was the one who shaped him. Her arms, just like Grant's, were wide open.   
Daisy had a faint smile on her face. A crown of white flowers was in her dark hair, just like the ones he used to make for her when they were kids. She wasn't crying anymore; her beautiful chestnut-colored eyes were full of life again. They were his shelter in this storm. He took a step towards her. He could walk again! Not even seconds later, he started running towards all three of them. It felt so beautiful to feel the warm sand underneath his feet. He had just realized they were on a beach. The sun was shining. The birds were singing and the sea was gently crushing into the shore. Before he arrived in front of the people he had seen, all three of them, in the same time, said:   
„It's too early.“

„...I see a pulse.“ a voice said. „He's back.“  
The feeling of a tube stuck inside his throat made him gag; more precisely, the feeling of cold rubber pushing against the inside of his throat. He couldn't move. The beeping sound of the screen that was monitoring his heart rate annoyed him. He would stand up and turn it off. He _would_...  
„It's too risky!“ a male voice yelled.   
„I don't care.“ a female, angry voice replied quickly. „He's got nothing to lose, has he?! Because I'm pretty sure that everything already has been taken away from him!“  
„He's my son.“ the voice said steadier. „You don't get to make these calls, Daisy.“   
It was Tony and Daisy. They were arguing. About what? He tried to speak, but the rubber tube inside his mouth was preventing him from doing so. Wait, why did he have a tube inside his.... His lungs collapsed. That was it. Jemma had warned him it might happen soon after he lost his arms. Now he had lost his lungs, too?   
„It's your fault that he was in that damn base in the first place, Stark!“  
_No. No, no, no, no – don't say that! Damn it, Daisy.  
_ „I'll expose him to terrigen.“ she said with anger in her voice. Tony wasn't saying anything. „I'm sorry, Stark. But he's not just your family: he is mine, too.“  
The next thing Fox heard was the sound of footsteps distancing.   
_What the hell have you done, D?_ „I'm sorry you had to hear that, little man.“ she says with her voice shaking, „But it was the only way for me to do this.“  
He shut his eyes again, and the only thing he heard was the sound of something crushing against the floor.

Tony Stark leaned his back against the medical wing's walls. His breathing heavy, the familiar feeling of nausea and inability to move was back. With his heartbeat racing, his breaths were short and quiet, but the voices inside his head were more than loud.   
_It was your fault.  
It was your fault.   
It was your fault._   
He slid down the wall, crushing onto the floor. His hands were trembling, fingers hidden in his beautiful, chocolate-colored hair. _It's my fault_ , he kept repeating.   
What have I done?  
His breaths kept getting shallow, until the point where he was literally fighting for air.   
In the matter of seconds, everything went dark.   
At first, Tony thought that it was him, but then he heard footsteps pacing, running and walking fast. The power went out. Once he sighed with relief, he looked up. A bright, blue light was shining right across him, a few feet away. It was coming from Fox's room.   
„Fox“ the name rolled of his lips, as he stood up and ran towards it. The power went out, meaning that the machines that kept him alive went out as well.   
_Not another one, please don't take him, God_. His memory flashed back to Pepper's hand sliding out of his when they were hanging in the air and the world around them was in flames, and her helpless screams as she fell into the abyss of flames. Then it switched to Rhodey falling out of the skies like a comet after Vision shot him, then violently crushing into the ground. Once he took the helmet off of his suit, he had seen Rhodey's last breath – and the sad look in his eyes. He couldn't help them. _They_ were his fault. And now it was happening again, with his own son, with Fox! Tony was running into the room, just to stop a few milimeters before would have ran into Daisy's stoic body. She wasn't moving, and he had just seen why.   
It was Fox. He was the source of the light! He was standing in the air, electricity dancing around his body. It was surrounding him, embracing every milimeter of his body, becoming one with him. Electricity was sparking around him, every second more and more powerful. His tired eyes turned blue and his weak body turned powerful again.   
He was reborn. He was the living thunder. Soon, the windows broke – a thunder ripped through the skies and hit into the ground so loudly that the glass shattered. He clenched his fists, and not even a second later, gigantic thunders rained down onto the ground, making the entire building shake. The thunder and Fox became one – he was the embodiment of pure energy now. He closed his eyes, and the thunders stopped: everything stopped. His bare feet reached the dusty tiles on the floor. It was the dust from his cocoon; the aftermath of his terrigenesis. Daisy had pulled out the tube and crushed the fragile crystal by throwing it on the ground – and soon, Thunder was born.   
The first thing he did once he landed onto the ground and the power went back one was walking towards the two people in the room: Daisy and Tony.   
He hugged them tightly, wrapping his fully healed arms around them. The three of them were in tears, and Fox whispered, gently: „I'm back.“

It was weeks later when he had officialy returned to his life before the capture. Every day he was growing stronger, and every day he felt as if a part of him had finally been unlocked, like a bird set free. One day, after he had returned from training in the Avengers Tower, and when he had just put new, dry clothes on, he heard footsteps approaching. A familiar smell was spreading through the air. Fox turned immediately.  
The wet clothes he was holding in his hands now fell onto the ground. His heart raced.  
„Steve.“ he said softly, as tears filled out his eyes. 


End file.
